The train slowly came to a halt on the outskirts of the tidal convergence point in the middle of the Emerald Sea.

Outside the porthole, the scene was starkly different from the tranquility of the Southwest Archipelago.

The sky was no longer a pure azure or a stormy grayish-white, but instead displayed a strange, mottled appearance.

The law energy was in a state of turbulent convection, forming visible bands of color and vortices that shifted between blood-red and frost-blue.

The sea was no longer calm; waves rose without wind, and the surging waters were mixed with shattered starlight and gloomy hues, as if the entire sea region were groaning under the pull of two terrifying powers.

"The tidal charts show that the law turbulence from the north and east is rapidly spreading toward the center."

Leng Ningxue stared intently at the light screen of the main console, data streams pouring through her icy eyes like a waterfall.

"The vanguard of the World-Cleansing Tide from the main force of the Enforcement Officers has already had seventeen large-scale collisions with the Constellation's Star Domain Barrier. The energy dissipation level... is close to a peak King-level clash."

Qingniao leaned against the porthole, lightning jumping irritably at her fingertips. "They're fighting brutally... if this turbulence spreads completely, those ordinary islands won't be able to hold out at all."

"They don't care." Bai Cheng's voice was calm as her silver eyes gazed at the distant horizon, where light bursts constantly flickered.

"Whether it's the existence behind the Enforcement Officers or the Constellation Leader, they only have eyes for each other and that supreme Imperial throne.

The living beings caught in the aftermath... are merely dust that will sooner or later be swept off the chessboard."

Silence fell within the cabin for a moment. They all knew that what Bai Cheng said was the truth.

This sudden all-out war was essentially a decisive battle between two top-tier factions for the final control of the Emerald Sea—and even the right to define higher-level laws—cruel and cold.

Suddenly, the pure heart vine seedling in Yu Nian's arms trembled violently again. This time, it didn't just point in one direction but spun wildly like a compass.

At the same time, the communication rune at her waist flashed urgently, transmitting {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} a series of noisy and anxious fragments of thought from different directions and different islands—

"...Help! North Reef Island is being submerged by red tides! People are disappearing!"

"...West Coral Forest... there are moving shadows... swallowing the light..."

"...East Bay Village... the sky has cracked open... raining fire..."

"It's the islands where the statues were erected!" Yu Nian's face turned pale. "They are calling to us for help all at once! But the signals are very chaotic, as if they're being interfered with by something!"

Lu Duo closed her eyes, her life perception expanding to its limit, her expression growing increasingly grave.

"It's more than just interference... the distress signals are mixed with intense despair and corrosive intent, which are inversely impacting the connection to the faith statues!

If we don't respond, the glimmer of faith from the statues might be completely polluted or even extinguished!"

"They've been caught in the aftermath of the war." Zi Yuan's long blade unsheathed half an inch, purple lightning flowing along the blade. "Moreover, something is taking advantage of the chaos, even... specifically attacking the islands related to us."

Bai Cheng closed her eyes. Deep within her soul, the web woven from the threads of faith from hundreds of islands was vibrating violently.

Every thread transmitted fear, pain, and prayers on the verge of collapse.

The Stardust Imprint throbbed with a burning pain. The faith that had once warmly supported her had now turned into a heavy responsibility and a trial.

She opened her eyes, and in the depths of her silver pupils, exhaustion was replaced by a deeper determination.

"Chi Yan, Huang Yu, Lan Xiaoyu, stay with the train. Maintain relay communications and long-range support, and be ready to provide backup at any time."

"Ningxue, synchronize the tidal charts with the distress signal sources, and plan the shortest rescue path and evasion routes."

"Qingniao, Zi Yuan, Lu Duo, Yu Nian, follow me to attack."

She walked to the cabin door, her silver hair moving without wind, as the space laws around her began to flow silently.

"We can't save the entire Emerald Sea." Her voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears. "But we cannot turn a blind eye to those islands that once reached out to us and entrusted us with their faith."

"The storm has arrived. If the glimmer fades, the darkness will be unopposed."

"Move out!"

The side hatch of the silver train opened, and five figures shot out like sharp arrows.

Facing the mottled turbulence across the sky and the distant rumbling of war, they charged without hesitation toward the location of the nearest distress signal—North Reef Island.

Behind them, the silver-threaded vines on the train's hull glowed faintly, as if silently seeing them off.

In the central waters of the Emerald Sea, the storm of war was raging on an unprecedented scale.

And at the edge of the storm, a more subtle yet equally cruel erosion was taking place.

Bai Cheng and the others' rescue might not change the course of the Great War, but it was an action proving one thing:

Even in this sea region crushed by the will of giants, there are still beings willing to go against the tide for the sake of small prayers.

The true contest lies not only between thrones and tides, but also in every square inch where a glimmer of light can endure.

The five figures cut through the mottled sky, racing toward North Reef Island in the north-central Emerald Sea against the increasingly chaotic energy turbulence.

The closer they got to the source of the distress signal, the more hostile the environment became.

In the sky, the blood-red aftermath of the World-Cleansing Tide and fragments of the ice-blue Star Domain Barrier collided and intertwined, exploding into silent but deadly fireworks of law.

On the sea, the waves no longer followed natural rhythms, sometimes rising like blade edges and sometimes collapsing into vortices that swallowed everything, within which shifted the shadows of sea beasts mutated by war energy, letting out greedy hisses.

"North Reef Island is ten miles ahead, but the outskirts are shrouded in a crimson mist barrier!"

Leng Ningxue's voice came through the communication rune, heavy with concern.

"The mist barrier has strong law corrosiveness; life signals are rapidly decaying within it."

Bai Cheng's silver eyes pierced through the crimson mist barrier to see the island's silhouette. It was originally a fishing island made of white coral reefs, but now the surfaces of the rocks were covered in web-like dark red patterns.

Above the village at the center of the island, a distorted space rift, like a wound, was constantly dripping viscous black droplets.

Wherever the droplets touched, vegetation withered instantly and rocks dissolved, while the islanders... were huddled in terror around the silver-haired girl statue in the center of the village.

The phantom of the lamp held in the statue's palm emitted a faint dawn light, barely maintaining a pale gold shield with a radius of less than ten meters, protecting the remaining hundred or so islanders within.

But the shield was already teetering, its surface constantly rippling as if it would shatter at any second.

And deep within the mist barrier, several blurred black shadows were quietly prowling. They had no fixed form, sometimes appearing like floating cloaks and sometimes coalescing into multi-limbed insectoid shapes, their malice and greed clearly perceptible even through the mist.

"They are Mind-Eroding Demons, law derivatives spawned by the World-Cleansing Tide. They feed on the fear and despair of living beings and can corrode faith-based creations."

Lu Duo's life perception was fully open, her voice trembling slightly.

"They are deliberately torturing the islanders to extract more intense negative emotions... the faith flames of the statues are an alluring supplement to them."